WRITTEN QUESTION E-2810/00

by Jeffrey Titford (EDD) to the Council

(6 September 2000)

Subject: Representation at the United Nations

Will the Council of Ministers please inform me whether the European Union has any plans to seek status as a nation, or any other representative status, at the United Nations?

Will the Council of Ministers please inform me of the precise diplomatic status of any European Union representatives at the United Nations?

Reply

(30 November 2000)

1. Regarding the status of the European Union at the United Nations, the United Nations Charter provides for member status for States only. Thus the fifteen Member States of the European Union are full members of the United Nations. The European Union as such has no legal status within the United Nations. The European Community, for its part, has observer status at the United Nations General Assembly. It thus has a permanent invitation from the organisation to take part as an observer in the sessions and proceedings of the General Assembly and has a permanent office at the Organisation's Headquarters. It is represented there by the Presidency and the Commission.

2. The Union is playing an increasing political role in the United Nations. Article 19 of the TEU stipulates that Member States are to coordinate their action in international organisations and at international conferences and to uphold common positions in such fora. In line with the provisions of the Treaty on European Union, the Presidency and, within the limits of its powers, the Commission, coordinate Member States' positions. The Presidency presents the European Union's positions in the various UN bodies and introduces an increasing number of initiatives on the Union's behalf. The European Union is not proposing to seek membership status at the United Nations; indeed, the United Nations Charter rules this out.

3. Regarding the status of European Union representatives at the United Nations, Member States of the European Union including of course the State holding the Presidency like all members of the United Nations, are represented at the United Nations by their permanent representatives. The European Commission has a delegation in New York and the General Secretariat of the Council set up a Liaison Office there in 1994. For practical and legal reasons in the United States, the delegation and the office while representing separate entities housed in separate premises are currently accredited jointly with the Organisation and the host country as the European Community.

4. Under the third paragraph of Article 1 of the Treaty on European Union, the Union shall be founded on the European Communities, supplemented by the policies and forms of cooperation established by this Treaty. Thus, following the entry into force of the Maastricht Treaty, the European Community informed the United Nations Secretariat that it now forms part of the European Union established by the Treaty on European Union.